The Cetra Child
by DacilJuju
Summary: REWRITE  The scientific projects of ShinRa have always been equally dangerous and mysterious. Now a new secret is about to be revealed.
1. Prologue

**DJ: Welcome to the official rewrite of 'The Cetra Child'. It's my pleasure to present all of you the improved version. (Man, I sound old.)**

**Disclaimer Guy: DJ doesn't own any rights to the Final Fantasy Franchise. She does enjoy playing the games.**

Prologue

_The world is cruel and unforgiving._

One day it will take the child from the innocent mother. The next, it squashes the culprits like bugs.

_Fate tears lovers apart, but also gives way to new love._

The flower girl and the SOLDIER forever together in the Lifestream, but the blonde warrior stays behind on his own. Might he find solace in another's arms.

_The Lifestream holds many secrets._

Was it the Promised Land or something far greater that drew ShinRa into its business? If so, was the realm of the dead the thing they sought?

_The darkness in the hearts of men corrupts everything._

Too many deaths for such little success. See the heroes of mankind succumb to their own past, while others remain standing.

~~~ _Gaia_ ~~~

**DJ: Please review and let me know what you think! **


	2. Caged

**DJ: I've decided not to jump directly to Terra's point of view, but to slowly build up the tension with flash-backs of important events.**

**Disclaimer Guy: DJ doesn't own any rights to Final fantasy VII.**

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><p>These are the darkest clouds<br>To have surrounded me  
>Now I find myself alone caught in a cage<br>There's no flower to be found in here  
>Not withering<br>Or pale to me  
>Everyone with a friendly face<br>Seems to hide some secret inside

- Caged, Within Temptation -

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Caged<strong>

_Humanity is a strange thing. Mankind can't help but feel their own failures. Still they won't do anything to perfect themselves._

~~~ Midgar, 1978

Murky shadows took refuge in the corners of the darkened room when the screen of the lone computer lit up. At once the crafty piece of technology, stolen from ShinRa, began to process the words that were coming in whispers from the only human being in the vicinity.

'_Slumbering in the dark…'_ The woman's eyes flashed around to take in her prison for what must have been the hundredth time that day.

'_And it's so cold…'_ She spasmed violently, but the chains which bound her ankles and wrists to the hard stone slab didn't even protest.

'_Dreadful, dreadful cold and dark!'_ She cried out again and her eyes flashed a malicious blue as she stared straight into the lens of the conveniently placed surveillance camera.

'_He won't listen!'_

Then suddenly the woman went slack again and all visible tension left her in a sigh. Her eyes had returned to their natural brown colour as they rolled back into her head. Next to her, the computer system shut off with a definite click. The room was instantly clouded in darkness.

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><p>If a situation like this had come up a couple of years ago, Octavian Rayleigh would have hit his head tenfold on the wooden desk. Hard. He had matured, however, and chose not to do so. Instead he let the subtle tension in his face show his frustration.<p>

Three months, that's how long it had taken to make the captured woman speak. Three months of torture, bribing and yammering from both the prisoner and his incompetent assistants. For what? Some tiny pieces of vague information from a woman who'd probably lost her mind and the continuous reminder of his own failures.

How long had it been since he'd been accepted as the apprentice of the brilliant professor Hojo? How long had it been since that man's legendary breakthrough? Six months, twenty-three days and a handful of hours, that's how long. Those glory days already seemed distant shadows.

But Rayleigh had to prevail, no matter what. The promise he made was more important than anything…

_From far away, you could hear a woman screaming…_

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><p><strong>DJ: Short chapter, but enjoy it anyway! Please review and let me know what you think.<strong>


	3. Hiatus

**NOW ON HIATUS!**

30/09/2012

Hey everyone,

Something impossible happened (well, not really impossible, because it happens to people all the time) - my harddrive crashed and I've lost all my writing progress of the last six months! So now I'll have to write it all over again (including the first five chapters of a fic in progress). The question is of course: Am I going to have enough time for this in the coming year? (Seriously, school is getting way difficult!) My answer is: probably no.

It's with pain in my heart that I declare a major hiatus on all my work. Please, understand, I don't do this to anger or annoy you! I'd just like to have some time to think up a good plan and get through the workload from there. (I might post some things on tumblr in the mean time.)

My apologies!

DJ


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